Some tourist traps are tons of fun. Estes Park is a nonstop carnival, with better food.
But I'm with you. I prefer to slow down and go beyond the crowds. The locals know the best places, and the experience is more authentic. That's why I want to go back to the British Isles. My high school trip was scheduled by others, and hit the highlights. It was a great start, but now I want to write my own itinerary.
We should differentiate between tourists and travelers.
Tourists come to see and experience notable sites that they may have only read about or heard tales of. To touch history, to stand in a famous place or behold a breathtaking view.
It's personally significant to say, "I've BEEN there!".
Really adept travelers seek out the local culture and sites in all their forms.
For some people just leaving home puts them so out of their comfort zone that the thought of getting off the beaten path is too much for them. When I travel I like to see well known sites, but you will not catch me eating at a chain restaurant. I want food that is local.
When we visited Peru and Bolivia, my daughter acted as our tour guide. She had already been there two years with the Peace Corps and knew her way around. She was so tight she squealed when she walked, so we lived in hostels and rode local transportation. (I was amazed to find that you can squeeze 13 people into a 9 passenger van, plus a couple of hundred pounds of onions.). My wife and I did draw the line at hostels - we insisted on the pricery rooms with a bathroom instead of the common-bathroom-down-the-hall she usually rented.
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